Clare People Interactive

This is War
30 Seconds to Mars
EMI
6/10

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I’m a little surprised that I liked this album. When actors decide to become musicians it triggers a whole series of alarms in my brain. Burned by the efforts of Keano Reeves and Russell Crowe, only the very few – Juliet Lewis and William Shatner (come on, you know it’s true) – produce anything worthwhile.
So I was more surprised than anyone to discover that Jared Leto was more of a Kylie that a Jason.
But before we start fawning all over the My So-Called Life heartthrob, lets get a few things straight. This is by no means a great album and the fact that it will sell millions more than countless other more deserving records is a little obsene.
This is War is an attempt, and a braveish one at that, for 30 Seconds to Mars, to mark themselves out as something different. They are shooting for a big epic sound, the kind of thing Muse might sound like that if they were blue and red Americans who were really into their shoes. Not totally rubbish.
Andrew Hamilton